Distinguished Alumni

Allums and Gentile honored as “Distinguished Alumni”

A deeply experienced attorney for the U.S. Department of Defense and an expert in public policy were the recipients of SPEA IUB’s 2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards.

“SPEA has more than 30,000 alumni in influential positions around the world so it is always a challenge to choose just two for this significant, annual honor,” said Dean John D. Graham. “Our two recipients this year are inspiring examples to all of our students and they demonstrate the transformational potential of an Indiana University degree.”

The 2017 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award are:

Vicki Allums (MPA’86) is associate general counsel of intellectual property in the U.S. Department of Defense. She has more than 15 years of legal and policy experience as a government and corporate attorney in domestic and international intellectual property matters, e-commerce, cyber law, international trade, and information assurance. Allums previously served as a senior attorney in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and as a senior attorney in the intellectual property branch of U.S. Customs.

“Vicki Allums is a wonderful ambassador for SPEA through her professional accomplishments and through her devotion to the school and its students,” Graham said. “She has had leadership positions on our Distinguished Alumni Council and has cheerfully and generously contributed to our current and future success.”

Matt Gentile (BSPA’95) is a principal at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services in Washington, D.C., where he leads Deloitte’s federal analytics practice. In 2013, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to serve as a member of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. Gentile began his career as a White House staffer supporting environmental science and policy development, a position that grew out of his participation in SPEA’s Washington Leadership Program. To allow IU students with financial need to benefit from the opportunities he experienced, Gentile recently endowed the Gentile Family Washington Leadership Program Scholarship.

“Through his positions in Washington, Matt Gentile is helping shape the nation’s environmental policy,” Graham said. “Through his many contributions to SPEA, he is helping to prepare future generations of policymakers committed to the greater good.”